Ready Player One

Teenager Wade Watts, lives in a dystopian world twenty-five years or so, into the future. The environment is shot, the world is in a 30 year recession it can't seem to escape. The only contact between people is through a digital world where people connect with avatars and life is like a video game. In fact, even school is conducted this way.The eccentric billionaire owner of the system that everyone is plugged into, leaves an grand prize of a special Easter egg and whomever reaches it first will basically be immortal and rule the digital world.
Wade must battle hordes of avatars both good and evil, all competing to solve the complex riddle and get to the prize first. There were tons of eighties references, some of which I remembered, others I did not. As a non-gamer, some things were lost to me, but Cline's vivid descriptions moved the story along. Of course, people hide behind the avatars, they are not whom they seem. Wade must learn that ultimately you can love the digital world, but being “real” is a privilege and no machine can replicate the joy of human contact and friendship.